Newly chosen Fort Verde Days’ grand marshal builds community

The next Fort Verde Days Grand Marshal, Bob Weir, likes it when people he’s seen grow up in the Verde Valley stick around and give back to the community.

Weir, the Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education superintendent, recently hired Kaylee Randall as a teaching training professional.

“She came through our FFA in [Camp Verde] High School,” Weir said. “I taught her and was principal there, and my wife, [Daria Weir], was her Student Council advisor.”

“So, it’s neat that we’re seeing, now, kids that we’ve done something for [or] taught, come back and give back,” he said, adding Randall “is tremendous.”

When he found out he was nominated for grand marshal and had become a finalist, he said it was nice.

“Because I’ve been involved in Fort Verde Days of some sort since we’ve been here,” he said. “Thirty-five years working in the Verde Valley in the schools.”

Weir moved to Arizona from Colorado in 1987 to earn a masters degree in education and graduated from Arizona State University. He came to the Verde Valley in 1992.

He spent 17 years teaching mathematics and graphic design at CVHS, until he moved to the role of principal and career and technical education director. In 2016, he became superintendent for VACTE.

Weir said he moved from CVHS to VACTE because he wanted to help the Verde Valley have more well-rounded students who could be active parts of the community, even if they couldn’t or didn’t want to go to college.

“You need athletics and extracurricular, career tech slash fine arts, and then your academics,” he said. “I believe that they should all equally be funded, equally be pushed, and sometimes we only push academics.”

Rodeo Background

“Bob was born in La Veta, Colorado, and comes from a family of professional rodeo stock contractors,” the grand marshal announcement read. “Since the age of 13, he has been a rodeo clown, entertaining audiences at approximately 20 rodeos each year in several states.”

He said he’s seen a lot of Fort Verde Days celebrations and immediately helped out with the Bull Bash when he was still new to the community.

“Then we actually created the Bull Bashes when they kind of died out,” he said. “We brought them back under my wrestling program at the high school, and we ran them for 16 years straight as a fundraiser.”

Over the course of that time, Daria Weir said the Bull Bashes raised more than $200,000 for the wrestling program.

“Bob has worked so hard for many different programs in the Verde Valley,” she said. “I think that is what sets him apart, is helping make money for your programs and never putting a dime in his pocket.”

She said he helped her organize events like the Barrel Races for the Future Farmers of America clubs at Camp Verde and Mingus Union high schools.

“He put on the Demolition Derby for five years for the VACTE programs, raising over $150,000 for them,” Daria Weir said.

The Camp Verde Arena Association took the bleachers when the nonprofit vacated the arena in March, which effectively canceled the annual August fundraiser.

Grand Marshal

Shay Black nominated Weir for grand marshal. Black is a longtimefriend of Weir, and her husband, Travis Black, teaches construction at VACTE and was an assistant coach for Weir’s wrestling team for many years.

“The reason that I recommended him was because what I said was ‘I don’t think there’s even one family in this town that has children that hasn’t been impacted in a positive way by Bob Weir,’” she said. “That includes my daughter, who took CNA [Certified Nursing Assistant] through VACTE, and is now an RN [registered nurse], my son who took all of his construction classes through VACTE, and now is employed by the city of Cottonwood.”

The residents of Camp Verde evidently agreed; the majority voted for him to be grand marshal in July.

Shawna Figy, the Camp Verde Parks and Recreation manager, said there’s always a good turnout and good nominations. The Parks and Recreation Commission opens up nominations in March and has a hard time narrowing down the finalists.

“I’m never disappointed by who the public votes for, because there are a lot of [great] people in Camp Verde,” she said. “But Bob is particularly deserving.”

The annual Fort Verde Days celebration is set for Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10 and 11. Both days begin at 11 a.m. and will go to 7 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Figy said there will be a people’s choice chili cook off, which registration recently opened for, and parade and vendor spots are still available.

The earlier registration is done, the better for the organizers, she said.

The parade will take place on Main Street at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

“My dad is one of the most selfless people that I know. … He has always been the hardest worker, I know and giving so much of his personal time to helping our community and the future of our students,” Bob Weir’s daughter, Danya Weir said. “He has never wanted to be in the limelight and has never asked for a thank you from anybody.”

Despite not asking for the recognition and saying he’s “not a huge parade guy,” Bob Weir will be at the front of Saturday’s parade, leading the way.